And The Envelope, Please…
We were sad to say goodbye to the Newport Beach Film Festival at the final screening of “A Beginners Guide to Endings” Thursday at the Lido Theatre.
Eight days and 400 movies flew by faster than we were able to say, “Please pass the popcorn.” It’s difficult to choose a favorite, that’s like when the kids ask which one of them we love the most. But of the dozen or more films that we saw (while playing hooky), we highly recommend “Deadheads,” the zombie film/love story; “Bhopali,” the terrifying true story of second generation children affected by the Union Carbide gas disaster in India; “Bobby Fischer Against the World,” the harrowing life story Fischer; Sundance favorite “Project Nim” about the dire consequences when a chimpanzee is raised like a human; “Lucky,” the dark comedy of a lottery winner and budding serial killer; and “On the Grind,” a touching film about the importance of skateboarding in the lives of suburban youth in Long Beach.
The 2011 NB Film Festival announced it winners, including the first MacGillivray Freeman Films Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking and MacGillivray Freeman Films Special Achievement Award in Environmental Filmmaking. The films selected to run in the Festival were in competition for jury, festival and audience.
For a list of winning films check out OC Weekly here.
